Is my Mobile Connector dead?

[Night Blade]

2016 Model X owner here. My Tesla was charging fine an hour ago, but now, it just displays "no power."

What I tried:

• Unplugging it and plugging it back in
• Removing the adapter part of the mobile connector and plugging it back in
• Four different electric outlets
• With and without an extension cord

Symptoms are the same in all combinations:

• Car shows "no power" message inside
• Car outlet remains dark
• Charger (Gen 2, 5-15) shows all letters in green (ready to charge, according to the manual)

I tried charging down the road with a J1772 adapter at a nearby charging station; car charges fine.

Is my mobile connector dead, or is it recoverable? Is there any further troubleshooting I can do?

 

[Night Blade]

Can't edit, forgot to mention: also tried flipping and resetting the breakers, for what it's worth.

 

[Cosmacelf]

Does sound like a dead mobile connector. Maybe time to upgrade to a Wall Connector.

 

[mxnym]

Is there a reset button on the gen2 mobile connector? I wouldn't think you'd need one when you can unplug and replug, but I also vaguely recall seeing one somewhere other than on my wall connector. If there is one, while it's probably a long shot, it might be worth looking up the connector in the manual and finding out what you can do with that button.

 

[Night Blade]

Looks like it sometimes works, and sometimes doesn't - I guess it's on its way out. It worked a couple of times since I posted.

As for the reset button, there isn't one sadly. I checked the Gen 2 manual, it makes no mention of it.

 

[mbp11]

I agree with Cosmacelf. The mobile charger is defective. Mine did the same thing (except the green light turned red on the connector). fill out a service request and have the mobile rangers bring you out an new charger. It will be in the $300-$400 range, as I recall. There is no warranty on the charger, but you need it.

 

[Night Blade]

Looks like it may not have been the mobile connector after all. I got a warning today about low voltage, followed by "the car may not start again," followed by the car completely dying on me (I had 11% battery at this time).

Got it towed to Tesla and spoke to Roadside Assisstance. They suspect, from the list of issues, that it's a battery system issue. Hopefully will find out when they open tomorrow.

 

[Night Blade]

Turns out the Roadside Assistance guy was correct. The 12V battery died, due to a coolant failure. Apparently, the battery is constantly being heated to run at the optimal temperature (for driving and charging), and sooner or later, the coolant system may - as in my case - suffer an internal failure and stop working.

No coolant? Battery's too cold, so won't charge. That explains the low-voltage and car-may-not-start warnings and errors.

And eventually, the 12V will run out, so the Tesla dies.

Ironically, this is not the "main" (high-capacity) battery. The latter is what's covered under warranty.

Hope this helps someone else out there.

 

[Cosmacelf]

Turns out the Roadside Assistance guy was correct. The 12V battery died, due to a coolant failure. Apparently, the battery is constantly being heated to run at the optimal temperature (for driving and charging), and sooner or later, the coolant system may - as in my case - suffer an internal failure and stop working.

No coolant? Battery's too cold, so won't charge. That explains the low-voltage and car-may-not-start warnings and errors.

And eventually, the 12V will run out, so the Tesla dies.

Ironically, this is not the "main" (high-capacity) battery. The latter is what's covered under warranty.

Hope this helps someone else out there.

And people kept telling me the 12V battery wasn’t liquid cooled/heated! I was pretty sure it was. Btw, I think the new ones are 16V.

 

[mxnym]

And people kept telling me the 12V battery wasn’t liquid cooled/heated! I was pretty sure it was. Btw, I think the new ones are 16V.

AFAICT, this doesn't say the 12V is heated/cooled. This person couldn't charge the main battery with the mobile connector. This was because the coolant failure caused the main battery to stop being heated/cooled. The main battery not being heated/cooled/charged caused the 12V maintenance to stop functioning. The lack of 12V maintenance lead to a dead 12V battery, which finally lead to the roadside call to diagnose the original issue of a coolant system failure which happened to be preventing the mobile connector from charging the main battery, which happened to eventually cause the main battery to not charge the 12V, which eventually happened to cause the 12V to go dead, an indirect side effect that occurred even though the coolant system isn't connected to it.

 

[Cosmacelf]

AFAICT, this doesn't say the 12V is heated/cooled. This person couldn't charge the main battery with the mobile connector. This was because the coolant failure caused the main battery to stop being heated/cooled. The main battery not being heated/cooled/charged caused the 12V maintenance to stop functioning. The lack of 12V maintenance lead to a dead 12V battery, which finally lead to the roadside call to diagnose the original issue of a coolant system failure which happened to be preventing the mobile connector from charging the main battery, which happened to eventually cause the main battery to not charge the 12V, which eventually happened to cause the 12V to go dead, an indirect side effect that occurred even though the coolant system isn't connected to it.

Ah, got it. Thanks.

 

[Night Blade]

AFAICT, this doesn't say the 12V is heated/cooled. This person couldn't charge the main battery with the mobile connector. This was because the coolant failure caused the main battery to stop being heated/cooled. The main battery not being heated/cooled/charged caused the 12V maintenance to stop functioning. The lack of 12V maintenance lead to a dead 12V battery, which finally lead to the roadside call to diagnose the original issue of a coolant system failure which happened to be preventing the mobile connector from charging the main battery, which happened to eventually cause the main battery to not charge the 12V, which eventually happened to cause the 12V to go dead, an indirect side effect that occurred even though the coolant system isn't connected to it.

I confirmed with a couple of people from Tesla (local and roadside assistance) - they said, pretty much point-blank, that the 12V battery is always being heated/cooled. What failed, in my case, was the 12V battery heater. And once the battery heater failed, the battery wouldn't change.

Interestingly, I got back from Tesla again today, and it looks like I had two separate issues at the same time:

• Mobile connector finally kicked the bucket, and refused to charge even when connected to the car
• 12V battery heater/cooler failed

The first issue lead to me going to supercharge, which is where the second issue manifested.

I replaced my mobile connector today, and the car charges fine. The car also supercharged fine in the Tesla service center yesterday.

 

[mxnym]

I confirmed with a couple of people from Tesla (local and roadside assistance) - they said, pretty much point-blank, that the 12V battery is always being heated/cooled. What failed, in my case, was the 12V battery heater. And once the battery heater failed, the battery wouldn't change.

Interestingly, I got back from Tesla again today, and it looks like I had two separate issues at the same time:

• Mobile connector finally kicked the bucket, and refused to charge even when connected to the car
• 12V battery heater/cooler failed

The first issue lead to me going to supercharge, which is where the second issue manifested.

I replaced my mobile connector today, and the car charges fine. The car also supercharged fine in the Tesla service center yesterday.

Yikes, I guess I was the one reading beteween the lines and not @Cosmacelf ... thanks for clarifying.

 

[Rocky_H]

I confirmed with a couple of people from Tesla (local and roadside assistance) - they said, pretty much point-blank, that the 12V battery is always being heated/cooled. What failed, in my case, was the 12V battery heater.

What year is your car? Maybe I missed it. The older cars with the standard lead acid 12V batteries don't have any heating.

On the newer cars, they have the 16V lithium ion batteries for longer lifetimes, but lithium ion batteries do have that characteristic where they get severely damaged if you attempt to charge them when it is well below freezing, so I have often wondered if they had some kind of heating mechanism to get them to a temperature where they can be recharged.

 

[Night Blade]

What year is your car? [...]

On the newer cars, they have the 16V lithium ion batteries for longer lifetimes, but lithium ion batteries do have that characteristic where they get severely damaged if you attempt to charge them when it is well below freezing, so I have often wondered if they had some kind of heating mechanism to get them to a temperature where they can be recharged.

2018, with a 12V battery. Yeah, it sounds like they have a battery heater (which is what failed for me). That explains why, even at the supercharger, I wasn't able to charge my vehicle. (Doing so would have probably damaged the main battery.)

 

[Rocky_H]

2018, with a 12V battery. Yeah, it sounds like they have a battery heater

I don't believe that. Or there was a misunderstanding.

 

[Night Blade]

I don't believe that. Or there was a misunderstanding.

No two ways about it. The battery refused to charge. They battery heater/coolant had an issue, which resulted in the car not charging, and the battery dying. This corresponds very obviously with the error messages I got about "car battery voltage too low" and "car may not drive," leading up to "car may die unexpectedly" (which it did).

 

[Rocky_H]

No two ways about it.

Except that the other "way about it" is that I think what @mxnym explained is far more likely what actually happened.

The battery refused to charge

Yes.

They battery heater/coolant had an issue,

Yes, the main high voltage battery pack does have a heater and coolant.

which resulted in the car not charging, and the battery dying. This corresponds very obviously with the error messages I got about "car battery voltage too low" and "car may not drive," leading up to "car may die unexpectedly" (which it did).

Right, and all of those are explained adequately in @mxnym 's post, where it doesn't seem like the lead acid 12V battery has a heater. I would think in the last 7 years we would have heard about this, of the wild idea that a lead acid battery has its own heater.